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Here are a few things some people say makes the European lifestyle superior.
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-better-looking people
-more cultured, sophisticated
-worldy rather and cosmpolitan than insular and provincial
-slim rather than fat
-contemplative and considerate rather than stupid and boorish
-Bistros vs Walmart
Wal-Mart is a store, bistros are restaurants. They're not comparable.
Where do you live, that people are stupid and boorish?
Europe has fat people too. The WHO recently reported that the obesity epidemic is global.
Worldly and cosmopolitan only applies to upper-middle class and above in Europe, and some middle-class people, same as in the US.
Re: cultured and sophisticated--Ditto, above.
Better-looking people? You're kidding, right? The same bell curve in looks is found through out Europe as in North America, or anywhere else in the world.
These kinds of comparisons are always overly-simplistic and full of stereotypes. The OP article was the worst of the genre.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 07-02-2014 at 12:02 AM..
The European lifestyle is walking to the boulangerie for freshly baked bread. It's taking your time to enjoy the finer things in life. It's discussing the writings of Sartre and Molière over a glass of wine at a neighborhood cafe. It's traveling across metro areas on trams and in high speed trains. It's being able to pursue your heart's desire without worrying about health insurance (or a lack thereof). It's savoring the beauty of this thing called life.
The American lifestyle is driving your gas guzzling SUV to Walmart. And it's working 45 hours per week to afford the monster mortgage on a McMansion. Furthermore, you have to stay at the 45 hour per week job just to keep health benefits.
The people who shop at WalMart don't have McMansions, let me tell you. Your entire post is full of cliches. Your neighborhood cafe scenario sounds like it came from a film. Working-class and many middle-class Europeans can't afford to travel on high speed trains, or to do much travel at all in their countries. Many Europeans shop at supermarkets, not at the boulangerie (been watching too many films about Paris, lately?)
It sounds like you run with a very pedestrian crowd in the US, while enjoying your fantasy life on occasional vacations in Europe (or watching old films about France from the 1940's). You need to find new friends in the US that fit your values. Believe me, they're around, and they generally don't drive SUV's.
Yes - because you live in Texas -- you're not going to meet many Texans who think living anywhere else would be better.
Americans for the most part aren't like Europeans. We're not descended only from Europe, we get our culture from other sources including American Indians and the culture that came from slaves.
Yeah, see, this is kind of the problem. Urban European middlebrow culture is better than American indigenous cultures, or any American subculture that has any real following. It just is. There need be no justification for this subjective viewpoint, but I can muster it if you like.
Posts #38, 45, and wherever ohiopeasant weighed in were the best in thread IMO.
Yes, I envy European culture and would like to someday relocate to London. The best city I've been to on this continent is Montreal, and it's hardly an accident it's often referred to as the most European city here.
The people who shop at WalMart don't have McMansions, let me tell you. Your entire post is full of cliches. Your neighborhood cafe scenario sounds like it came from a film. Working-class and many middle-class Europeans can't afford to travel on high speed trains, or to do much travel at all in their countries. Many Europeans shop at supermarkets, not at the boulangerie (been watching too many films about Paris, lately?)
It sounds like you run with a very pedestrian crowd in the US, while enjoying your fantasy life on occasional vacations in Europe (or watching old films about France from the 1940's). You need to find new friends in the US that fit your values. Believe me, they're around, and they generally don't drive SUV's.
I agree. It's hilarious to me that some people think they know Europe because they watched some movies, went to Paris and ate at sidewalk cafes. Ouhlala!! Now they're "experts!!"
European societies are dying societies, demographically. Their welfare systems are clearly not sustainable. Everyone can live well on a credit card, until it is time to pay the piper. No wonder King of Netherlands declared in Sep 2013 that the Welfare State is dead, and people need start relying on themselves for the safety nets and pensions. This is pretty sobering for a society that was born and raised with the premise of "cradle to grave" entitlements.
Ageing, shrinking of the workforce will increase pressures on middle income earners and poor. Who already shoulder a much higher burden of the Welfare state than their American counterpart.
Immigration does not seem to be solving problems as hoped, because of non-assimilation, which perpetuates a poor class, high-demanding in services, and low contributor in taxes.
So Europe is facing even higher taxes and cutting of the public services.
Another big problem, which contributes to Europe ailments is economic growth, which is pathetic. Maybe except Norway, a country of 5 million, which economy relies on oil production, of all things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Marcinkiewicz
The best city I've been to on this continent is Montreal, and it's hardly an accident it's often referred to as the most European city here.
Which is not true. Quebec City is the most European look-alike, although the French view it as caricature of a true provincial city.
Me neither. I was just thinking about this recently, how fortunate we Americans are to have been born here instead of somewhere else. We don't realize how good we have it.
Envy other countries ??????? NO WAY, never given it any thought and can't think of one other country that I would want to live in.
Well they do have a bunch of neat old stuff to see there but so does the Smithsonian.....Other than that East or West home is best. US is the place for me..................
If, like me, you prefer nature and wilderness over cities, you would not envy Europe. I don't want to be in walking distance to a large shopping area, I don't want to be near big cities or development. Europe is heavily urbanized and what passes for rural in most of Europe is nothing like what you find in North America. Europe doesn't have an Alaska or a Yellowstone. I don't like suburban sprawl in the least, but Europe simply has urban sprawl instead of suburban sprawl. Too many big cities because of being overpopulated. I'm sure other rural Americans will agree with me on some of this. That article is based on an urban-centric mindset.
Yes - because you live in Texas -- you're not going to meet many Texans who think living anywhere else would be better.
Americans for the most part aren't like Europeans. We're not descended only from Europe, we get our culture from other sources including American Indians and the culture that came from slaves.
LOL well that's not actually true about Texans, even though many of us do really love our state. I've also lived in about fourteen other states and I still don't know any Americans who would prefer living in Europe. Of course I'm not saying there AREN'T Americans who would rather live in Europe - sure there are! I myself wanted to live in Europe FOR A WHILE and was thrilled when we got orders to move to Germany. My husband (who, unlike me, is a native Texan) and I have discussed the option of moving to Europe with his work and I wouldn't ever rule it out 100 percent, but it would only be because it would be a temporary move. We'd never even consider moving there permanently. But I was jealous about him getting to work for six months in Scotland, even though he didn't particularly care for it (his favorite European country is Germany).
But you're right about the blend of cultures in the US, which is one thing I simply love about our country, and also about Texas (Tex Mex anyone? ). It's one of the major things that makes the US so different from so many other countries. It's a delicious blend in my opinion.
If, like me, you prefer nature and wilderness over cities, you would not envy Europe. I don't want to be in walking distance to a large shopping area, I don't want to be near big cities or development. Europe is heavily urbanized and what passes for rural in most of Europe is nothing like what you find in North America. Europe doesn't have an Alaska or a Yellowstone. I don't like suburban sprawl in the least, but Europe simply has urban sprawl instead of suburban sprawl. Too many big cities because of being overpopulated. I'm sure other rural Americans will agree with me on some of this. That article is based on an urban-centric mindset.
I'm a "rural American", though not entirely by choice. The European land-use situation is heavily influenced by centuries of feudalism, where commoners had difficulty buying land. The result is lots of dense urban pockets (big cities, small cities, villages) with comparatively open space between them. That open space is sometimes large farms, and sometimes forests or parks. In America, at least in the eastern half, mostly small private plots comprise the rural land. We have lots of houses on 1 acre, on 5-10 acres, on 50 acres, filling the landscape between the cities and towns. Fly into a major American airport, and for the final 15 minutes of approach, you'll see lots of small residential plots, gradually increasing in density until finally reaching the city. Fly into a major European airport, and you'll see open land, with houses clustering in compact villages.
I would opine that the real difference isn't between open space in America and open space in Europe, or cities in America and cities in Europe, but in how the two respective continents manage their residential space. In America, low-density (not quite suburban) land-usage proliferates. In Europe, there are high-density pockets surrounded by essentially empty space.
The European lifestyle is walking to the boulangerie for freshly baked bread. It's taking your time to enjoy the finer things in life. It's discussing the writings of Sartre and Molière over a glass of wine at a neighborhood cafe. It's traveling across metro areas on trams and in high speed trains. It's being able to pursue your heart's desire without worrying about health insurance (or a lack thereof). It's savoring the beauty of this thing called life.
The American lifestyle is driving your gas guzzling SUV to Walmart. And it's working 45 hours per week to afford the monster mortgage on a McMansion. Furthermore, you have to stay at the 45 hour per week job just to keep health benefits.
Whomever wrote that article is an idiot.
I live in an urban downtown, I walk to work, I buy my bread at an Italian bakery, which I walk to, and eat at outdoor cafes 3-4 times a week.
Your fantasy isn't a European one, it is a French one.
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). It's one of the major things that makes the US so different from so many other countries. It's a delicious blend in my opinion.
